Families came from miles around to gawk at a fantastical toy store near Rochester
Alan Morrell and Bill Wolcott
4 min read
Ridge Road Station was a store that started as a model-train dealer and evolved into the largest independent toy store in New York state.
The shop on West Ridge Road in Orleans County also had a vast selection of Christmas merchandise that included elaborate and pricey ornaments. A huge model-train layout was inside, an enormous American flag was hoisted outside, and the world’s largest wagon was on display at one time.
Train enthusiasts, both the young and young-at-heart, flocked from all over western New York to Ridge Road Station. As the inventory increased, the nondescript building itself was expanded several times.
Peter Mills was behind it all. He opened Ridge Road Station in 1992 at 16131 W. Ridge Road in the town of Murray. Frank Bilovsky described the place in a 1996 Democrat and Chronicle article.
“Peter Mills has turned a storage area seemingly in the middle of nowhere into 15,000 square feet of unique retail space that generates $1 million-plus a year in sales of model trains, toys and Christmas items,” Bilovsky wrote. “He calls it a good start.”
The Ridge Road Station store in Holley, Orleans County, offered more than just supplies for miniature railroads. A full line of toys, and Christmas season items filled the building.
The start, as noted, came with just model trains and Mills’ interest didn’t begin until later in life. Mills owned a wholesale plumping-supply business and one day he went along with one of his workers who was buying a model train. Mills was hooked, and within months, he had spent $7,000 on trains and scoured stores throughout several states and Canada in pursuit.
Mills decided to open a store of his own. The store quickly built a following among train-lovers. Mills stocked G-scale trains, those more than double the size of traditional Lionel models and far more detailed. One set at Ridge Road Station was priced at $42,000, he told Bilovsky in the 1996 story.
By then, Mills had already added toys and Christmas items to the mix. The toys were of the “educational” variety, from brands like Playmobil and Brio. Dolls and plush were added. The holiday merchandise became part of “The Christmas Company” within Ridge Road Station. Ornaments ranged in price from 99 cents to $1,300 apiece.
Ridge Road Station hosted train races, clinics and other events. As Mills said in a 1995 Democrat and Chronicle story, “We want to have some fun with trains. I’m trying to get the kids away from TV sets, Nintendo, and into something fun they can use their minds on.”
The size of the store grew quickly and then doubled again in 1995, when Mills began stocking Christmas merchandise. By 1997, the Christmas Company shop was expanded by 8,000 square feet and included a “toasty fireplace” and ornaments and lights adorned a 16-foot Christmas tree.
Brenda Hand of Medina picks out a Christmas Nutcracker figure for a gift at Ridge Road Station in Holley on Nov. 21, 2002.
Mills started raffling off ornaments made by a New York City glass artist as a fundraiser to benefit AIDS Rochester. The cause was near and dear to Mills, whose brother, John, was director of a health center in Australia that was doing lots of AIDS-related research.
Ads touted toys from the “Safari Collection,” like “Dinosaurs of China” and “Treasures from the Rainforest.” During “Good Old Days” sales, toys like hand puppets, wood puzzles and boomerangs were featured.
The “World’s Largest Wagon” visited Ridge Road Station in 2001. It was built by Radio Flyer, the toy company best known for its iconic red wagon. The one at Ridge Road Station measured 27 feet long and 13 feet wide, with wheels that were 8 feet in diameter. Also on display were what was advertised as the state’s largest G-scale train display and the world’s largest G-scale roller coaster.
The crowds kept coming and the store kept growing. Customers brought their children and grandchildren to take in the spectacles. Hobbyists and collectors stopped by to add to their collections.
Mills had a 130-foot flagpole built in 2005 and got a 1,800-square-foot American flag to fly above the business. The giant flag became a landmark.
Within a few years, Ridge Road Station’s inventory included things like heaters, cookware, knives and after-shave lotions. Mills had said over the years that he ideally wanted to run a model-train store exclusively but realized the need to diversify. In early 2011, he announced plans to close. By the end, Ridge Road Station covered 30,000 square feet and had 35 employees.
“I’m a believer in the idea that every 10 years, we should do something completely different,” Mills said in a news story from the time. “I’ve had the store for 19 years.”
Gerald Lemoine and Myron Duncan unwrap the 30 by 60 feet long flag that will hang from a 130-foot outside the Ridge Road Station toy store in Murray, N.Y. on Friday, May 27, 2005. The flag remains and Orleans County landmark.
After the closing, the giant G gauge model train was disassembled, according to posts about the Ridge Road Station layout on mylargescale.com, a forum dedicated to G scale model train owners and enthusiasts. The gold mine section of the Ridge Road Station ended up at the Garden Factory, the enormous gardening store on Buffalo Road in Gates, where the train is part of the holiday display that runs from Thanksgiving to Christmas.
The engines on that giant train layout start chugging down the line on Black Friday, Nov. 24, according to Colin Clark, an assistant manager at the Garden Factory.
Back in Orleans County, the giant American flag still waves over the old store, the fabric slowly turning to tatters.
Alan Morrell is a Rochester-based freelance writer.
This story was originally published in March 2018 as part of the Whatever Happened To series.
